Hindu & Tamil Nationalism — They seem same.
I am reading two books in parallel — One is a compilation of writings of Nilakanta Sastri in The Hindu (in English). Second is a book (in Thamizh) on ‘Unknown Thamizh’ (அறியப்படாத தமிழ்மொழி).
As I read these and from what I see in Twitter et al, as much as Hindu Nationalism (BJP supporters) and Tamil Nationalism (proponents of a separate Tamil country) seem different and fight with each other, they both seem to actually be of the same kind.
Both of them talk about a distant past when their ancestors were great; both believe their culture/civilization was better than the other; both do not (mostly) entertain views that oppose their views; and so on.
It is funny to see the Hindu nationalist crowd troll and make people submit to their views in Twitter at a pan India level (or Hindi twitter let us say), getting a similar treatment from the Tamil nationalist crowd in Tamil twitter.
As much as I secretly enjoy the Hindu nationalists getting trolled and sort of get annoyed reading Nilakanta Sastri saying Tamil got enriched with Sanskrit influence, I also get skeptical when I read about the earliest of the Sangams existing several millennia ago.
I don’t know man, I am so confused. :)
